Cristiano Ronaldo

Fresh off of guiding Real Madrid to a second straight Champions League triumph, Ronaldo was informed just this month that he could face charges in relation to tax fraud between 2011 and 2014.

The charges relate to alleged irregularities in relation to money the football superstar had in the Virgin Islands, with the tax bill equating to nearly £13m over the period.

The allegations have led to Ronaldo, who proclaims his innocence and believes he has been treated like a 'criminal', to seek a move away from Spain.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi playing for Argentina (Image: Getty)

In July of last year, Barcelona star Messi and his father Jorge were both prosecuted by the Spanish Supreme Court in relation to tax fraud.

The court said both had used tax havens in South America, as well as shell companies across Europe, to avoid paying taxes totalling over €4m between 2007 and 2009.

The outcome of the trial saw Messi receive a 21-month prison sentence, although Spanish law, which deems that a jail sentence under two years for first-time non-violent crime violations can be served on probation, means the five time Ballon d'Or winner is unlikely to serve jail time.

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Jimmy Carr

One of the funniest men on the UK comedy scene, there was nothing to laugh about when Carr was forced to pay a huge tax bill after quitting a controversial tax-avoidance scheme.

In 2012, the 8 out of 10 Cats host was one of a number of celebrities named by The Times for his involvement in the K2 Scheme, based in Jersey, in order to cut his tax bill to just one per cent of his earnings.

The allegations came just months after the comedian bashed tax avoiders on Channel 4's 10 O'Clock Live. Another investment in 2016 saw Carr again caught up in another scheme, which cost the taxpayer £52m.

David Beckham

David Beckham was one of a number of stars caught up in the Ingenious scheme (Image: Getty)

Arguably the most famous name to come out of English football, Beckham was one of a number of celebrities embroiled in a recent £700m tax bill.

Beckham invested in finance firm Ingenious, paying a minimum £100k to support a movie venture that promised to combine box office hits with tempting tax breaks.

However, HMRC argued such schemes were not legitimate investment opportunities but actually a means of avoiding tax.

Others members of the scheme include Wayne Rooney, Bob Geldof, Davina McCall and Jeremy Paxman who face paying back millions of pounds.

Chris Moyles

Chris Moyles was one of 450 members of Working Wheels. (Image: FilmMagic)

In Febuary 2014, former Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles admitted to joining a tax avoidance scheme that would have cost the UK £290m.

He claimed to have been in business as a used car trader to save up to £1m in tax payments. He joined a scheme called Working Wheels which boasted 450 high earning members, including celebrities.

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Martha Stewart

2004 wasn't the best of years for Martha Stewart. (Image: Reuters)

Who would have thought someone who began her career with a succession of cooking books would later get caught dodging taxes?

This is what happened to Martha Stewart in 2004 when, before she was sentenced to five months in prison for insider trading, she was forced to pay back $220,000 in back property taxes and penalties for her New York home.

Stewart claimed that she didn't need to pay tax on the property as she didn't spend much time there.

Lester Piggott

Lester Piggott, now aged 81. (Image: Racing Post)

In 1987 the champion jockey was sentenced to three years in prison after failing to declare income of about £3m.

Piggott was said to have used different names to channel his earnings into secret bank accounts in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Singapore and the Cayman Islands.

The nine-times Derby winner was prosecuted in what was then the biggest individual income tax-dodging case ever brought in the UK. The sentence was thought to be the highest to be passed for a personal tax fraud.

Al Capone

Al Capone, one of history's most famous gangsters. (Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)

In spite of a number of alleged bloody and brutal crimes, Al Capone, one of the most famous gangsters of the 20th century, was eventually sent down for tax evasion.

The man who for years was the US public enemy number one was pursued for four years by Elliot Ness and his squad of ‘Untouchables’. But in the end it was a former accountant, Frank J Wilson, a special agent for the US Internal Revenue Service, who avoided the attentions of Capone’s gunmen and snaffled the boss of the Chicago Outfit.

Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion in 1931. And Wilson? He went on to become chief of the US Secret Service.